The black-and-white manga page seemed to burst with vibrant colors, capturing the bustling energy of a lively night market.
Hino Maori and Kamiya Toru walked quietly through the crowded street, each wearing a restrained expression.
Emi flipped to the next page, only to see Hino Maori take two steps forward and, with feigned nonchalance, take Kamiya Toru's hand.
Emi suddenly found herself holding her breath.
Here it comes.
Just as I expected.
The most classic and heart-pounding moment in every romance manga.
Kamiya Toru glanced at the girl beside him, and in an instant, he made the decision to grip Hino Maori's hand tightly in return.
A sense of happiness filled the air, but memories remained just out of reach.
Hand in hand, they walked onto a bridge. At that moment, fireworks exploded in the sky.
Beneath the massive, beautiful fireworks, their figures appeared small and insignificant.
Both froze, neither speaking as they held hands.
But Hino Maori's inner monologue floated to the surface:
This precious moment... I'll inevitably forget it, along with the warmth in my palm. A tear slipped uncontrollably from the corner of Hino Maori's eye, but her gaze never wavered from the fireworks in the sky.
Just a few pages of manga were enough to bring tears to Emi's eyes.
For Hino Maori, the more beautiful something was, the more pain she felt alongside its beauty. She knew that when she woke up the next day, all this beauty would vanish completely.
This was why, even though the manga series had many sweet moments, readers would feel a pang of sadness just minutes after experiencing that sweetness. At its core, it was a story designed to evoke sorrow.
I don't want to forget... I don't want to forget! Hino Maori murmured, watching the fireworks and clutching the hand of the person beside her, unable to hold back her tears.
You won't, Kamiya Toru replied softly. No memory ever truly disappears.
Please don't leave me, Kamiya Toru.
I'll always be by your side.
Emi's fingers tightened around the manga page.
I'm sorry, Kamiya Toru. Can I break the Third Agreement? Hino Maori turned to face the young man.
The Third Agreement?
Emi immediately recalled it.
The one where they absolutely couldn't fall in love with each other...
Here it comes, here it comes.
Emi took a deep breath, pinched the manga page between her fingers, and gently flipped it over.
The top half of the page featured fireworks exploding against the night sky, while the bottom half showed a young man bowing his head and leaning in to kiss a girl on the lips.
Tears streamed down the girl's cheek, but the boy's eyes held no hesitation or confusion.
Beside the panel, text read the line the boy had spoken to Hino Maori before the kiss:
Actually, I broke that rule a long time ago.
Emi stared at the page, frozen in place. She sat in her chair for a long time, unable to calm her racing heart.
Soon, she picked up the manga again, reread the scene several times, and then sat staring blankly into space.
Finally, she leaned back in her chair and sighed softly.
"Why did Shirogane Sensei make Hino Maori forget Kamiya Toru later? How are you going to resolve this plot hole? No, I need to check the forums for answers!"
With that thought, Emi immediately got up and grabbed her phone.
When she accessed the official forum for Ametsukage Weekly, she discovered she wasn't alone in her thoughts.
"I'd call Tonight the purest romance in this magazine. Among the four romance manga serialized in Ametsukage Weekly, Tonight is undoubtedly the best."
"This manga even made a guy like me tear up."
"Is it really that dramatic? I found it touching, but not enough to cry."
"Maybe I'm just easily moved!"
"Who was badmouthing Kamiya Toru in the early chapters? Come out now! Can you still criticize him after seeing this?"
"The male lead is so gentle. I'm completely in love! I wish I had a guy like him by my side in real life."
"So what exactly happened in the first chapter?"
"I don't get it. Why did Izumi, her best friend, do that? Why hide the diary? This question has been haunting me for two months! When will Shirogane Sensei finally reveal the answer?"
"It should be soon. After all, the past two months of the story have been flashbacks from Hino Maori's diary, as read by Izumi. Now that the two are in love, the truth about what happened next should be revealed soon."
"Old Shirogane..."
"Keep up the great work, Sensei! If you maintain this momentum, this manga will definitely become legendary!"
"I'm getting a little nervous, everyone. Romance manga usually wrap up quickly after the confession. This one confessed in chapter eight, so does that mean the end is near?"
"What's there to worry about? A short, excellent manga is better than a long, drawn-out one that drags on forever with filler plots. As long as the quality remains high and the ending is clean and concise, it'll be ten thousand times better than those bloated, never-ending series."
"I bet the next arc will involve a misunderstanding between Kamiya Toru and Hino Maori. Izumi probably did this to protect her friend from getting hurt if she read the diary. Once the misunderstanding is resolved, they'll get back together and resume their normal relationship."
"? A misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?"
"Maybe Hino Maori will misinterpret some girls around Kamiya Toru as romantic rivals. That's a common trope in romance manga, right? When the main couple's relationship stalls, they introduce a misunderstanding—a 'third party'—and suddenly both leads act completely irrational, refusing to communicate or explain themselves."
"No, that would make it just another cliché romance manga! Shirogane Sensei, if you're reading this forum, please don't go down that route!"
"You guys are joking, right? You're seriously ignoring the other possibility?"
"How could we?"
"Kamiya Toru and Hino Maori's love was pure from beginning to end. There were no misunderstandings, and they genuinely loved each other. But how did Takaki and Akari from 5 Centimeters Per Second end up separating? Was the love between the protagonists in 5 Centimeters any less than the love in this manga? There are countless ways to tear apart two people who truly love each other. Shirogane Sensei's previous work showed us one answer. Could there be a second answer now?"
"Could it be...?"
"No way! This manga can't end like 5 Centimeters Per Second, right?"
That night, Rei watched the online comments from readers of tonight's manga chapter. His own emotions were complex.
He was thrilled that the work was so beloved in Japan and generating such buzz among readers of Ametsukage Weekly.
Yet he also felt a pang of guilt. Next week's chapter would likely shatter these readers' hearts completely.
But there was no choice. The original novel's ending was set in stone. Rei had considered altering it, but often, while you could find a hundred flaws in the original ending, devising a better one proved impossible.
A manga's ending was like the final stroke of a dragon's eye—the very essence of its spirit.
With that thought, Rei shut down his computer and phone, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.